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The planned statewide system is short about $60 billion, some of which will undoubtedly need to come from Congress. But CEO Jeff Morales and Chairman Dan Richard — in Washington last week for meetings during the U.S. Conference of Mayors — told POLITICO they didn’t come to the capital with hat in hand.

“We don’t need new federal money for about two more years,” Morales said during an interview at the Capital Hilton. “We’re not here asking for a new round of funding right now. Having said that, we do need — over the long run — some form of ongoing stable federal support.”

But does the authority need a Democratic takeover of the House and another speakership from noted rail booster and current Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to make the eventual connection of Los Angeles and San Francisco a reality? Richard says no, and he is bullish Republicans will eventually come around to the project’s economics.

“We have a Republican majority in the House of Representatives. But we have a program and a story to tell that is very consistent with the policy, principles that they care about,” he said.

The $6 billion, 130-mile initial segment in the Central Valley will begin construction this summer, a huge milestone in a decades-long effort to bring the fast trains enjoyed all over the world to the United States. It is an effort with strong backing from the Obama administration to the tune of $3.3 billion, and from California taxpayers, who are pitching in $2.7 billion after a dramatic vote in the state Legislature last summer cemented the project’s future. A further $2 billion is going to urban rail connections in the state.

Among the big questions that will hang over Richard, Morales and the entire project for years: Where is the other $60 billion going to come from?

The answer is “we don’t know,” Richard said, emphasizing that step-by-step funding is the only viable path to such a large number. And California is taking precautions to make sure that even the Central Valley segment will be useful immediately for the Amtrak system in the state, an effort to avoid the “train to nowhere” moniker still popular among opponents.

“There have only been a few multigenerational transportation projects in history. And no one knew at the outset where those dollars were coming from,” Richard said. “There’s nothing unique about us not being able to identify every penny at this point.”

The project’s leaders are still strategizing long term. They see the private sector eventually being able to fund perhaps as much as $20 billion, money that will start to reveal itself in five years when trains are gliding across the brand-new rail segment in the Fresno region and producing revenues.